Automatic silent railway-crossing.



C. MAGERKURTH.

AUTOMATIC SULENT RAILWAY CROSSING.

APPLICATION FILED ocr. 5. 191e.

A. ,236, l 97., Patented Aug. 7, 1917.

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CHARLES IVIAGERKURTI-I, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF TEN ONE- I-IUNDREDTI-IS TO HENRY STOVER, OE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC SILENT RAILWAY-CROSSING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 1917.

Application led October 5, 1916. Serial No. 123,887.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARnns MAGER- KURTi-r, a citizen of Peru, residmg at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented new-and useful Improvements in Automatic Silent Railway-Crossings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a railway crossing and particularly pertains to rail intersections therefor.

It is an object of this invention to provide means whereby the wheels of railway cars may travel along their tracks and across 111-- tersecting tracks without allowing thecar to be violently j arred as it crosses the intersecting track and without producing objectionable noise.

Another Objectis to provide simple means whereby the| intersecting track mechanism may be automatically actuated by the car passing thereover to produce a continuous rail across the intersecting track and to provide an unobstructed path of travel for the car wheel.

Another object is to provide a vertically rotatable track segment which may be mounted at the point of intersection of rails and which may be readily actuated to form a continuous rail across the intersection and in conjunction with either of the intersecting rails.

Another object is to provide a simple mounting block within which the segment may be detachably secured and rotatably held for operation.

Another `object is to provide simple means for preventing the accumulation of water and dirt within the mechanism and for insuring pro-per lubrication to the moving parts.

Another object is to provide a lock arrangement which will permit the intersecting segment to be rotated a quarter of a turn and will thereafter lock it so that there will' be no danger of its becoming movable under the weight of the car passing thereover.

It is a further obj ect to provide a railway intersection device which is simple in its construction, and possesses Vfew movable parts, all of which may be manufacture-d at small cost.

. Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention is illustrated, by way of eX- ample, in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a view in plan illustrating intersecting railway tracks as equipped with the intersection mechanism with which the present invention is concerned.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view in diagram illustrating a portion of the car truck having a wheel thereunder bearing upon a rail and further illustrating the actuating member by which the intersection is automatically prepared for traHic thereacross.

Fig. 3 is a view in transverse section as seen on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and as illustrating the relation between the vital parts of each intersection.

Fig. 4 is a view in elevation illustrating the revoluble rail segment and the locking member therefor, both of which parts are shown as disassociated from their housing.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in perspective illustrating the interlocking mechanism with which the rail segment is provided.

Fig. 6 is a view in end elevation illustrating the cam faces formed upon the end of the rail segment hub.

Fig. 7 is a view in transverse section as seen on the line 7 7 of Fig. 4 and as illustrating the construction of the lock and alining spider for the rail segment.

Referring to the drawings more particularly, 10 and 11 indicate parallel rails forming one track, and 12 and 13 indicate parallel rails adapted to cross the rails 10 and 11 and are here shown as disposed at right angles thereto. The rails 10 and 11 are continued across rails 12 and 13 by means of filler rails 14 and 15 which correspond in size and formation to filler rails 16 and 17 which form continuations of the rails 12 and 13.

The various rails will intersect at four points and each of these intersections is provided with a revoluble rail segment 1S. This segment is mounted within a housing 19 here shown as integrally formed to the adjacent ends of the rails. It will be further noted that the adjacent ends of the rails are formed with arcuate faces provided with wheel flange grooves on the inner sides, said faces being arranged around a common center. The rail segment 18 is pivotally mounted upon this center and thus may be rotated to form continuations of the rails across the intersection. The rail segments have cylindrical sleeves 20 which extend vertically within the housings 19 and are held in position by means of set pins 21 which engage a V-sha-ped groove 21 extend ing around the body of the sleeve. The set pins are moved into and away fromvan engaging position by means of set screws 22. The upper portion of the sleeve is enlarged to form a circular collar 23 adapted to seat within an annular recess 24: formed within the housing 19.1 A groove 25 extends around this` collar and permits suitable packing'26 to be placedtherein in a manner to prevent water and dirt from working into the main portion of the bearing. A vertical' oil hole 27 extends through the collar and is adapted tofregister with an oil hole 28` whichr conveys a lubricantl to the main portion of the bearing 19. 1

As a means for alining and temporarily locking` the segments 18 within their housings when a car is passing across them, the sleeve 20`is formed with a series of longitudinallyY extending slots 29 which extend upwardly from the lower face ofthe sleeve and are adapted to become engaged by an alining and locking spider 30 provided with radial arms 31 extending outwardly from a center pin 31. These arms rest upon a cam hub or sleeve 32 which is secured by means of= a set screw within the lower endof the housing 19. 'This cam sleeve is formed with a series of-face cams 32 around its upper face, as particularly shown in Fig.` 5 ofthe drawings. As illustrated, the face of the sleeve is formed with four cams which permit the track sections 18 to be turned a quarter-f of a revolution when actuated; Tt is evident, however, that the arrangement of these cams and the arms 31 may be varied' to permit the device to be usedat` track intersections other-than those made at right angles. The radial arms V31 and: the center pin with which they are formed' integral are resiliently held upon the face of the cam sleeve 82 by means of a helical spring 34: which is disposed within a counter-bore 35 in the rail segment sleeve 20. This bore is of suiicientl diameter. to permitY the upper end of center pin 31 to reciprocate therein as motion is imparted from the cam faces to the cam arms against the action of the spring 3st.

ln order to permit the rail segments 1S to be swung to prepare continuous trackage across the intersection in any direction in an automatic manner, a downwardly extending actuating arm 3G is provided and securedto the truck or frame of a car. This arm is so disposed that it will travel along the side of the rail' and will encounter the rail segments 18 before the wheels reach them, thus causing these segments to be rotated within their housings and to become alined with the main rail and the ller rail over which the oar has right-of-way.

Tn operation the track segment will be encountered by the arm 86, as disclosed in Fig. 2` of theA drawings, and will, when struck by the arm, become alined with the rail and filler. During this operation,.the radial arms 3l upon the center pin 31 will be rotated as they engage the slots in the sleeve 20, and will ride over the cam faces of the cam sleeve32 and be pressed into the gullets between the camsby means ofthe spring 34; This will hold therail segment against movement dueto vibration orother causes whilethe wheels of the car-are passing therealong. 1When a@ ear crosses the in tersection from the opposite direction or along the other track, the actu-ating arm with which it is fittedl will engage the-rail segment and prepare therailsfor `trailic thercover.

Tt' should be noted that theloek spider 30 in conjunction'with thecamhub 32 pre vents the rail segment' 1S from occupying an intermediate position between the inter` secting cross rails. Thatis tosay, therail 'segment 18y will be in alinement with one rail or the other. lVhen the segment 1S forms a continuation of on-e rail, it will of course allow the travel of` the car without interruption On the other hand,y when it is positioned transversely and at right anglesthereto,l it will"l be in proper` position to be positively engaged b-y the actuating arm 36 or the flange of the car wheeli It' requires only a trihelmore than one-eighth of a revolution of the; rail? segment 18` in order to cause saidv segment to be rotated a quarter turn, because of* the cam liu-b 32. then theradial arms ofthespider lock are occupyingv theV gullets of the cam hub 32, one-eighth of a rotation of the rail segment 18"will cause said arms tofride upwardly on'the cam'faces ofthe hub and occupy their highest poi-nts. Jany further' rotation will cause. said radial arms to quickly slide-down oni the other side of the cam` face into the next gull'et, this action being" due to the helical" spring 3ft disposed within the counterbore 35in'the sleeve 20 ofthe rail segment 18.

I considerthis alinement feature of' my invention veryimportant, as it preventsintermediate position'ofthevrail segments 1S, and at the' sameA time' providesmeans for quickly and properly positioning said segments into alinementwith the operative rail'. y In some cases it may be found convenient and satisfactory to depend entirely upon the action ofthe car wheel flanges to rotate the track segments as before described. In this case the operation willbe identical with the previous one. Y

It willthus be seenk that thedevice here provided will permit a railway car to cross an intersecting track along a continuous rail and without objectionable jar or vibration to the car body, as well as provide a device which will act automatically and without the attention of the car operator.

I claim:

1. In a railway crossing adapted to: be operated directly by the passing car, the combination with pairs of intersecting rails, rail segments rotatably mounted at the points of intersection, whereby continuous rails may be "formed across said intersections, each of said segments comprising a downwardly extending sleeve, a locking spider mounted therein, a fixed cam hub cooperating with said locking spider, and a spring mounted in said sleeve for yieldingly pressing said locking spider in engagement with said hub.

2. In a railway crossing adapted to be operated directly by the passing car, the combination with pairs of intersecting rails, rail segments rotatably mounted at the points of intersection, whereby continuous rails may be formed across said intersections, each of said segments comprising a disk shaped top having a rail section mounted thereon, and a downwardly extending sleeve provided with vertical slots at the lower end, a locking spider having radial arms positioned in said slot and capable of limited vertical movement, a stationary cam hub engaging said radial arms, and a spring pressing said spider lock against said hub, whereby said rail segment is held in alinement with the adjacent rails.

3. An automatic silent railway crossing comprising the combination with pairs of intersecting rails, of rail segments rotatably mounted at the points of intersection, disks supporting the segments, sleeves extending downwardly from the disks and provided with vertical slots in their lower ends, locking spiders havin@ radial arms positioned in said slots and adapted for limited vertical movement, stationary cam hubs engaging said radial arms, and springs in the sleeves and pressing the spiders against the hub.

et. In an automatic silent railway crossing, a housing adapted to be mounted at a rail intersection, a disk mounted horizontally in the housing, a rail section upon the disk, a sleeve extending downwardly from the disk and having a vertical slot in its lower end, means for holding the sleeve rotatably in place, a spider having arms slidingly in the slot, a stationary cam hub in position to be engaged by the spider, and a spring in the sleeve and pressing the spider against the cam hub.

5. In an automatic silent railway crossing, a housing adapted to be mounted at a rail intersection, a disk mounted horizontally in the housing, packing around the disk, a rail section upon the disk, a sleeve extending downwardly from the disk and having a vertical slot in its lower end, means for holding the sleeve rotatably in place, a spider having arms slidingly in the slot, a stationary cam hub in position to be engaged by the spider, and a spring in the sleeve and pressing the spider against the cam bub.

In testimony whereoi1 I have signed my name to this specification.

CHARLES MAGERKURTI-I.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

